Religion: A Pastor Ponders

The builder

By Pastor William Jenkins

July 7, 2006

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to retire from the house building business. He would miss the paycheck, but the time was right for him to move on with his life. The employer was sorry to see this good worker go and asked if he would build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said he would, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials.

When the carpenter finished the house and his employer came to inspect it, the employer handed the front door keys to the carpenter. “This is your house”, he said, “my gift to you for all your years of faithful service.” What a shock and what a shame! If the carpenter had known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he would have to live in the house he had built.

So it is with us. We often build our lives the same way, unwilling to put forth our best effort, making shoddy decisions, integrating inferior values. Then at some critical point we look at the situation we have created and realize that we are living in the house we have built and it is about to fall down around us.

Think of yourself as a builder and your life as the house you are building. Every day you pour a section of the foundation, hammer a nail, place a rafter or lay a board. Build wisely. It is the only house you will ever have. Life is a do-it-yourself project. It is the sum of your actions and reactions, decisions and attitudes, hopes and dreams, faith and courage.

Psalm. 127:1 gives us something to ponder: “Unless the Lord build a house, they labor in vain who build it.” I think I’ll get a Subcontractor.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org